AJOINT venture between Chelsea Premium Outlets and Genting Group aims to develop Malaysia into a shopping paradise.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak got confirmation that the deal to bring a world-class premium factory outlet centre to Johor as part of the Iskandar Malaysia project is on track.

The centre is expected to attract about four million visitors annually, reported The Star.

Mr Najib had a discussion with representatives from the Chelsea Property Group in New York on Monday and was informed that construction is expected to start early next year and will be scheduled for completion by mid-2011.

Chelsea Premium Outlets is owned by Chelsea Property Group, the world’s largest owner, developer and operator of upscale outlet centres in the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Its centre in New York, Woodbury Common, lures millions of shoppers with discounted items from designer brands, like Coach, Gucci, Zegna, and Burberry.

The items, which are a season old, are between 25 per cent and 60 per cent cheaper.

Mr Najib said: “It is the first (Chelsea) centre in the (Asean) region and I’m very happy that they have chosen Malaysia.”

He said there was a slight delay in the Malaysian project earlier as the Chelsea Group had wanted to regroup its finances during the economic crisis.

“Now that they have done so, they’ve got additional reserves for the project.”

This article was first published in The New Paper.